The IPL auction caught the eye in the very first edition when the star-studded room filled with Bollywood celebrities like Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty went head-to-head against business veterans like Vijay Mallya and N Srinivasan to acquire the services of the country’s most-wanted properties, the cricketers.
It was almost borne out of fantasy. Fans across the country were glued to the television speculating and urging their team to go for their favourite stars. MS Dhoni was one of the most sought after stars in the first year, and every team tried to sign India’s captain at that stage, but the CSK eventually prevailed. That all-out, everyone against each other ‘war’ would become a trend as bidding wars became commonplace at the IPL auction.
While some teams would strategise and only go after a few of their targets like the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Chennai Superkings, teams like the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challenge Bangalore would often bid for a number of players just to increase the price and effectively reduce their opponents’ budget.
In IPL’s 10-year history, Yuvraj Singh holds the record for being the most expensive player of all time at 16 crore when the Delhi Daredevils signed him in 2015.
In 2017, these stars saw some cutthroat action as team owners desperately looked to secure their services.
Here are the most expensive buys in 2017.
#5 Pat Cummins – Delhi Daredevils – 4.5 crore (Base price – 2 crore)
Delhi Daredevils were in the mood to do some serious business in this year’s auction and did not mess around right from the beginning. They had identified 23-year-old Australian Pat Cummins as one of their top targets and were willing to spend 4.5 crore on him.
They got into the bidding right from the start and engaged in a war with the Sunrisers Hyderabad that saw his price shoot up to 4.5 crore from his base price of 2 crore.
The Delhi pace arsenal now boasts of Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite. Absolutely frightening!
#4 Kagiso Rabada – Delhi Daredevils – 5 crore (Base price – 1 crore)
The teams were a little shy when Kagiso Rabada’s name was called out in the auction. The South African was expected to do very well and is ranked in the top-10 bowlers in the world in Tests as well as ODIs.
Virender Sehwag soon joined in for the Kings and seemed determined to get his man as he raised his paddle like he would play his strokes, in the most nonchalant manner. Delhi were playing the waiting game but struck at the right time, and secured his services at 5 crore.
Delhi had already done very good business by the time they bought Rabada, having already signed Angelo Mathews and Corey Anderson in the first part of the auction. The only challenge will be how they accommodate all the foreigners in the playing XI.
#3 Trent Boult – Kolkata Knight Riders – 5 crore (Base price – 1.5 crore)
It never really worked for Trent Boult at the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite being a bowler of unquestionable talent and skill, he was surplus to requirements as the SRH had a barrage of left-arm seamers boasting of the likes of Ashish Nehra, Barinder Sran and Mustafizur Rahman.
Akash Ambani seemed absolutely convinced that he wanted to add Boult to Mumbai’s arsenal as he had his paddle raised for most of the initial part of the bidding.
Having released Morne Morkel after the 2016 IPL, the KKR were in desperate need of a fast bowler and swooped in at the right time for Boult.
At 5 crore, he appears to be worth every penny.
#2 Tymal Mills – Royal Challengers Bangalore – 12 crore (Base price – 50 lakh)
Indian fans got to hear plenty about Tymal Mills when he joined the England squad for the recent T20I series. There was plenty made of his prowess in the shortest format of the game and he did reasonably well in the three T20Is, picking up a wicket in each of the games.
When Mitchell Starc discontinued his association with the RCB one day ahead of the auction, it was expected that the team would look for a new pace spearhead.
Virender Sehwag and Akash Ambani were responsible for raising his value from his base price of 50 Lakh to 7 – 8 crore. The RCB came in then and entered a war with their foes, the KKR. Just when it looked like neither party would relent, KKR were unwilling to go beyond 12 crore and the RCB got their man.
Tymal Mills became the most expensive bowler in the history of the IPL at 12 crore.
#1 Ben Stokes – Rising Pune Supergiants - 14.5 crore (Base price – 2 crore)
It was a quiet start to the auction but when the IPL auctioneer read out Ben Stokes’ name, there was an instant reaction in the room as everyone sat up and got ready to fight for the English star.
Akash Ambani cut an interesting figure, like a kid queuing up for ice cream 5 minutes before the store opens as he raised his team paddle before the bids were open. The bid shot up to 4, 5, 7, 9 crores before it settled down.
It appeared to be a fight between Mumbai and RCB before both teams pulled out. Sunrisers appeared to have got their man at 13.5 crore but the Rising Pune Supergiants snuck in, right at the end, and splashed 14.5 crores on the man.
Ben Stokes became the most expensive foreigner in IPL history.
2017 IPL’s biggest draw will play under MS Dhoni. Oops, Steven Smith.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
